Sergio Nasarre is a professor of civil law and founder of the Unesco Chair of Housing at the Rovira i Virgili University in Tarragona.
On Thursday he took part in a Palma conference that discussed the effects of Spain’s housing law, he firmly being of the view that the law needs to be repealed in order to increase the supply of housing and to make it more affordable.
“The 2023 law makes access to housing difficult. The law removes housing from the market and it protects squatters. The results of the law are contrary to its objectives – it is preventing families with lower incomes from being able to own property. I have spoken on several occasions at Congress’s housing commission and I have always warned of these effects.
“There has been an exaggerated increase in rents, a significant increase in prices for sale and, ultimately, a blockage of the entire system. Families cannot buy or rent. Even with income, they are left out of the property market.”
Nasarre is opposed to the law’s provisions for rent caps (which the Balearic Government has not implemented). “This implies rent control, but it has worked poorly in all the countries where it has been implemented. Housing not only doesn’t go on the market, it is withdrawn. There shouldn’t be an insistence on failed policies, but those responsible do not care.”
He accepts there are no magic solutions, saying that there are 38 factors that play a role in the affordability of housing – from international factors to personal and family circumstances. Even so, he believes that policies which should be adopted include not concentrating all housing opportunities in a few cities, as prices are very high in the cities, and diversification of ownership, such as shared and temporary ownership.
Squatting was an issue on the conference agenda, Nasarre explaining that since the law was passed, courts having been setting two years for evictions. Prior to the law it was seven months.
“A squatter can go two years without paying and the requirements for eviction are very complicated. Judges do what they can with squatters who have legal protection and have come out stronger. This doesn’t happen in any other country.”
He thinks the Balearic Government’s ‘Safe Rental’ programme is a good one as the scheme is voluntary (for owners) and provides legal security to the owner. “The government guarantees a minimum income and the integrity of the home. Instead of punishing, it encourages. In Catalonia there is a similar system and it has worked very well.”
